Safety belt buckles



A ril 23, 1968 R. EBERHART 3,378,895

SAFETY BELT BUCKLES Filed Dec. 5, 1965 FIG. 5

FIG. 4 94 30, Ioq 104 I 5 I06 f) 1 26B 4 I00 ///7 ///.///////////71 Z AA 26 INVENTOR.

R AY KBER HART ATTORNEY United States Patent Office 3,378,895 SAFETYBELT BUQKLES Ray Eberhart, 317 E. Jefferson Blvd, Mishawaka, Ind. 46544Filed Dec. 3, 1965, Ser. No. 511,377 Claims. (Ql. 24-430) The presentinvention relates to buckles and more par ticularly to buckles forsafety belts for use in automobiles, airplanes, and other passengervehicles.

An extensive effort has been made in recent years to have seat beltsinstalled in all automobiles, particularly in the front seats, and insome states laws and regulations have been enacted requiring safetybelts in all new automobiles sold in the state. There has beensubstantial reluctance or resistance to installing the belts and tousing them after installation, since the belts are often uncom fortableto the passenger and cause the clothes to become wrinkled, and thebuckles used on the belts have freqnenu ly caught onto and pinched thepassengers clothes, resulting in damage to the garments and wearingapparel. Damage to the garments has been particularly serious with furcoats and other garments having fur trimming in that the fur becomescaught on protrusions on the buckle or in the buckle operatingmechanism, especially if these parts are on the back or inner sidethereof, thus often tearing the fur, either by accident or by necessity,in disengaging the buckle from the fur and the garment.

Further, the buckles have been bulky and heavy and have projected awayfrom the wearers body sutliciently to be uncomfortable to the wearer.Further, protrusions on the buckle, including the operating levers,often constitute a hazard in the event of an accident by providing acutting edge or prong which can effectively wound the wearer as his bodyis thrust forward under heavy impact against the buckle during theaccident, and/ or result in accidental release of the buckle by thewearer, thus leaving the wearer without protection, often without hisknowledge. It is therefore one of the principal objects of the presentinvention to provide a compact, strong and rugged buckle for safetybelts which has all the operating parts, such as levers, latches andreleases, fully within the confines of the buckle housing with only thebelt and connecting male portion otherwise exposed, and which has apush-button type operating mechanism for releasing the buckle' Anotherobject of the present invention is to provide a safety belt buckle whichwill fit snugly against the body of the wearer, and which does notcontain any protrusions or buckle operating parts on the inner sidethereof capable of inflicting an injury to the wearers body or to thewearers clothes in the event of an accident, and which is so constructedand designed that the operating parts can easily be reached when thebuckle is to be released.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a relatively simpleand highly reliable safety belt buckle which is so constructed anddesigned that the operating means is recessed in the front of the bucklehousing where there is little likelihood of the mechanism beinginadvertently operated to accidentally release the buckle, so that theoperating mechanism is easily accessible and positively operated.

A further object is to provide a buckle of the aforesaid type havingmale and female parts, which is so constructed and designed that the twoparts can readily separate when the buckle is operated to release thebelt, and which can be locked by merely pushing the two parts togetherwithout operating or moving any external levers or mechanisms tocompletely and effectively lock or latch the buckle.

3,378,895 Patented. Apr. 23, 1968 Additional objects and advantages ofthe present invention will become apparent from the followingdescription and accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational View of the present buckle showing themale and female portions thereof disengaged and showing said portionsconnected to the two sections of the belt web;

FIGURE 2 is an end elevational view of the female portion of the buckleshown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a front elevational view of the female portion of thebuckle, showing more clearly the external features of the push-buttonoperating mechanism;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged horizontal cross sectional view of the buckleshown in FIGURE 1, the section being taken on line 4-4 of FIGURE 2 andillustrating the buckle in one operating position; and

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged horizontal cross sectional ew of the buckleshown in the preceding figures, the section being taken on line 5-5 ofFIGURE 2 and showing the buckle in another operating position.

Referring more specifically to the drawings and to FIGURE 1 inparticular, numeral 20 designates generally the female portion of thepresent buckle and numeral 22 the male portion thereof separated fromthe female portion, and 24 and 26 designate the web sections connectedto the male and female portions, respectively. The two web sections ofthe safety belt are secured by fixtures attached to the ends (notshown), which in turn are secured to suitable anchor bolts or fixturesin the floor or frame of the vehicle. The manner and means by which theweb portions 24 and 26 are secured to the vehicle do not form a directpart of the present invention, and hence will not be described in detailherein. The end of web section 26, shown in FIGURE 1, extends through anadjustment means in the female portion and projects laterally therefrom,and the end of web section 2.4, as shown in FIGURE 1, is looped througha slot 28 of the male portion and the free end thereof firmly andpermanently stitched or otherwise joined to the remainder of the websection.

The latch mechanism of female portion 20 of the buckle is best shown inFIGURES 4 and 5, consisting of a locking lever 30 seated in a groove 32adjacent upturned flange 34 of buckle body 36. The lever, which pivotsin groove 32, is held securely therein by two inwardly extending lugs 38and 40 on the inner side of flange 34 and is adapted to move from itslocked position, shown in FIGURE 4, to its unlatched position, shown inFIGURE 5, and the lever assumes the position shown in FIGURE 4, whetheror not the male portion 22 is inserted in or removed from the femaleportion, except during the locking and unlocking operations. Lever 30 isyieldably urged between the locked and unlocked positions by a springoperating mechanism 42, one end of which is seated over the outer end oflever 30 and the other end of which is provided with a finger 44extending upwardly through slot 46 in lever 30, where it is engaged bymale portion 22 as the male portion is inserted in the buckle. Thespring, which is best seen in FIGURES 4 and 5, is also provided with adownwardly extending protrusion or rib 48 which seats in a V-shapedgroove 50 in the bottom of the internal side of body 36 and therebyretains lever 35 in place with the outer edge thereof properly seated ingroove 32. Operation of lever 30 between the positions shown in FIGURES4 and 5 distorts the sprin, to provide the yieldable force required tooperate lever 30 and to disengage male portion 22 from engagement withthe lever, without becoming dislodged from groove 50. The lever 36 isprovided with an upwardly or forwardly extending boss 52 of Wedge-shapedconstruction, the boss sloping forwardly and inwardly to provide a rigidlocking shoulder 54 on the inner end of said boss for holding the maleportion 22 in locked position.

The male portion 22 is a flat member having a hole or slot 69 thereinwith an edge 62 for engaging shoulder 54 when portion 22 has been fullyinserted in portion of the buckle. Body portion 36 of buckle portion 20is provided with inwardly extending flanges 64 and 65 on the top andbottom sides 67 and 68 thereof, and buckle portion 22 is suflicientlywide to slip beneath and engage the inner edge of the two flanges whenportion 22 is inserted in body 36. It is seen that when portion 22 isinserted in the end of body 36, the forward end 69 of portion 22 slidesalong tapered boss 52, while the edges thereof are held firmly beneathflanges 64 and 66, thereby urging lever 30 rearwardly or toward back 70until edge 62 slips inwardly over shoulder 54. Thereafter, boss 52 andlever 30 snap forwardly under the influence of spring 42, lockingportion 22 firmly on the inner side of boss 52. As the forward edge 69of portion 22 approaches the inner end of its movement, it engagesfinger 44 and places the finger and the adjacent portion of spring 42under tension, thus holding portion 22 firmly against shoulder 54 andflanges 64 and 66, and thereby preventing rattling or any otherundesirable noise while the buckle is either in its locked or unlockedposition. The full inner movement of portion 22 is determined byshoulders 71 and 72 on the side edges of portion 22. The finger 44 ofspring 42 is placed under sufficient tension when portion 22 is fullyseated that, upon release of portion 22 by lever 30, portion 22 isforcibly ejected from body 36, thus completely unlatching the buckle andsignalling to the wearer that the two portions 20 and 22 have beendisengaged and the belt fully released. Thus, it is seen that, shouldthe buckle become inadvertent y unlatched, th wearer is effectivelynotified by the full disengagement of the two parts from one another.

Lever 30 is operated to unlatch and disengage portion 22 by apush-button type of mechanism 78 in which front cover 80 is providedwith an opening 82 and a button or lug 84 connected by member 85 to theinner end of lever 30, and leaving an extension 36 positioned beneaththe inner side of opening 82. Button 84 is preferably connectedintegrally to member 85 and this member is preferably connectedintegrally to the inner end of lever 30. However, lever 84 with orwithout member 85 may be constructed separately from lever 30 and thenmerely inserted between the lever and the inner side of cover 80 withthe inner side of the button or lug bearing against the inner end oflever 30. In the latter arrangement, the button moves directly inwardlyinstead of pivoting as the button shown in FIGURE 5.

The web 26 consists of the main portion 26A which is anchored at theunseen end to the vehicle floor or frame, and the tail portion 268 whichis secured to buckle portion 20 by a mechanism consisting ofnonrotatable shaft supported in the end section 192 of the femaleportion 20, the web being placed around said shaft and under a bar 104rigidly supported by lugs 106 on side walls 67 and 68 of body 36. Thebar has an outwardly facing slot 107 along the edge thereof forreceiving the two lugs 106, and a contoured inner face 109 for engagingweb portion 26B. The shaft is movable in end slots 1&8 toward and awayfrom face 109 and grips and releases the Web. When tension is placed onweb portion 26A, the shaft is automatically pulled to the right, causingthe tail portion 2613 around shaft 199 to be firmly clamped between theshaft and bar, thus securely holding the web from slipping. The surfaceof bar 104 facing shaft is contoured to clamp web 26 effectively againstshaft 1th), the shaft preferably being knurled or otherwise scored toprevent slippag of the web thereon. When it is desired to adjust thebelt, if only tightening is required, web tail 26B is pulled, therebydrawing web 26A around shaft 100 without serious interference from theaction of shaft 1% and bar 104. When the web is to be loosened, the twoportions of the web are pushed inwardly through opening 108, therebypushing shaft 100 away from bar 194 and permitting portions 26A and 268to be shifted relative to one another to obtain the required looseningof the web. Since the adjustment of the web by the use of shaft 100 andbar PM is not related to the principal part of the present invention,the details of this adjustment mechanism will not be further describedherein.

in the operation of the present belt buckle, when it is desired to placethe belt around a passenger in the vehicle, the two ends of the buckleare placed in front of the wearer and portion 22 is inserted in the endof portion 20 until edge 62 has seated over shoulder 54 and boss 52seated fully in hole 6t As the edge 69 approaches the end of itsmovement into portion 20, it engages finger 44 and places a tension onsaid finger and the adjacent portion of spring 42. With portion 22 fullyseated in end portion 26, the portion 22 is firmly locked in the latterportion, thus securing the two portions securely together. Web portion26 is then adjusted to give the desired tightness of the belt around thepassenger. When it is desired to release the buckle, the wearer merelypushes button 84 inwardly from opening 82, thus pressing lever 30rearwardly form the position shown in FIGURE 4 to the position shown inFIGURE 5 and permitting spring 42 to disengage edge 62 from shoulder 54and permitting finger 44 of the spring to forcefully release maleportion 22 from female portion 20, thus automatically disengaging thebuckle parts.

One of the special advantages of the present buckle is its compactnessand confined and enclosed operating parts, and the push-button typemechanism avoids protruding operating levers found on most commercialsafety belt buckles. While the ejection function of spring part 44 hasdefinite advantages in the buckle in obtaining optimum operation, it maybe eliminated or used to perform only the disengaging function, leavingthe ejection function to a spring operated reel-type mechanism locatedat the anchored end of one of the web portions.

The present buckle, which is preferably formed principally from steelstampings with little machining being required to obtain proper fitbetween the various parts, can be effectively, simply and safelyoperated by the pushbutton; however, other types of levers or operatingmechanisms may be used to operate lever 30. While only one embodiment ofthe present invention has been described in detail herein, variouschanges and modifications may be made to satisfy requirements withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A buckle for a safety belt having two sections, comprising male andfemale portions for connecting said sections, said female portionincluding a body having a back panel and a front cover with an openingtherein, a lever in said body, said lever and male portion havinginterlocking members for releasably holding said lever and male portionin locked position, a guide means in said body on opposite sides of saidopening for retaining said male portion in substantially parallelrelation to said back panel and front cover while said male portion isbeing inserted in and withdrawn from said female portion, a spring meansbetween said lever and said back panel urging said lever and maleportion into interlocking position, and an operating button facing saidopening joined integrally to the inner end of said lever and forming aU-shaped, plate-like structure of a width greater than the width of saidopening for depressing said lever to disengage said interlockingmembers.

2. The buckle defined in claim 1, in which said operating buttonconsists of a member disposed behind said cover across said opening andbeing adapted to be pushed 5 inwardly away from said opening todisengage said interlocking members.

3. The buckle defined in claim 1, in which said operating button is inrecessed relation to the front face of said front cover.

4. The buckle defined in claim 3, in which said spring means engagessaid lever and releasably urges the member of said lever into engagementwith the member of said male portion.

5. The buckle defined in claim 4, in which said spring is provided witha means for yieldably disengaging said members when said operatingbutton is depressed to unbuckle the buckle.

6 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,459,673 6/1923 Jabner24-230.1 3,181,215 5/1965 Eberhart 24230.1 3,252,196 5/1966 Ries 24230.1

FOREIGN PATENTS 557,868 8/1923 France. 1,320,936 2/1963 France.

818,988 8/1959 Great Britain.

BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner.

1. A BUCKLE FOR A SAFETY BELT HAVING TWO SECTIONS, COMPRISING MALE ANDFEMALE PORTIONS FOR CONNECTING SAID SECTIONS, SAID FEMALE PORTIONINCLUDING A BODY HAVING A BACK PANEL AND A FRONT COVER WITH AN OPENINGTHEREIN, A LEVER IN SAID BODY, SAID LEVER AND MALE PORTION HAVINGINTERLOCKING MEMBERS FOR RELEASABLY HOLDING SAID LEVER AND MALE PORTIONIN LOCKED POSITION, A GUIDE MEANS IN SAID BODY ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAIDOPENING FOR RETAINING SAID MALE PORTION IN SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLELRELATION TO SAID BACK PANEL AND FRONT COVER WHILE SAID MALE PORTION ISBEING INSERTED IN AND WITHDRAWN FROM SAID FEMALE PORTION, A SPRING MEANSBETWEEN SAID LEVER AND SAID BACK PANEL URGING SAID LEVER AND MALEPORTION INTO INTERLOCKING POSITION, AND AN OPERATING BUTTON FACING SAIDOPENING JOINED INTEGRALLY TO THE INNER END OF SAID LEVER AND FORMING AU-SHAPED, PLATE-LIKE STRUCTURE OF A WIDTH GREATER THAN THE WIDTH OF SAIDOPENING FOR DEPRESSING SAID LEVER TO DISENGAGE SAID INTERLOCKINGMEMBERS.